Basketball in the United States
Basketball in the United States | |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Governing body | USA Basketball |
National team(s) | United States |
National competitions | |
Club competitions | |
Of those Americans citing their favorite sport, basketball is ranked second (counting amateur levels) behind American football.[1][2][3] However, in regard to money the NBA is ranked third in popularity.[4] More Americans play basketball than any other team sport, according to the National Sporting Goods Association, with over 26 million Americans playing basketball. Basketball was invented in 1891 by Canadian physical education teacher James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts.[5]
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the world's premier men's professional basketball league and one of the major professional sports leagues of North America. It contains 30 teams (29 teams in the U.S. and 1 in Canada) that play an 82-game season from October to June. After the regular season, eight teams from each conference compete in the playoffs for the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.[6][7][8][9] The NBA get high ratings on television.[10][11]
Race and ethnicity
The composition of race and ethnicity in the National Basketball Association (NBA) has changed throughout the league's history. The NBA in 2015 was composed of 74.4 percent black players, 23.3 percent white players, 1.8 percent Latino players, and 0.2 percent Asian players. The league has the highest percentage of black players of any major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]
National teams
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/TeamUSA2008bball.jpg/250px-TeamUSA2008bball.jpg)
Since the 1992 Summer Olympics, NBA players have represented the United States in international competition and won numerous important tournaments. The Dream Team was the unofficial nickname of the United States men's basketball team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics.[20] The Women's national team has won eight gold medals at the Olympics.[21][22]
High school Basketball
High school Basketball is a popular activity.[23][23][24] The National Federation of State High School Associations featured 541,479 boys and 429,504 girls in basketball teams as of the 2014-15 season.[25]
Many high school basketball teams have intense local followings, especially in the Midwest and Upper South.[citation needed] Indiana has 10 of the 12 largest high school gyms in the United States,[26] and is famous for its basketball passion, known as Hoosier Hysteria.
College Basketball
College basketball is quite popular and draws TV high ratings. Every March, a 68-team, six-round, single-elimination tournament (commonly called March Madness) determines the national champions of NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship men's college basketball.[8][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]
Women's Basketball
The Women's National Basketball Association or WNBA is an organization governing a professional basketball league for women in the United States.[35] The WNBA was formed in 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association, and league play began in 1997.[36] The regular WNBA season is June to September (North American Spring and Summer). Most WNBA teams play at the same venue as their NBA counterparts.[37] The top tier professional Basketball league for females is the WNBA. It is not as popular as its male counterpart.[38][39] [40][41][42][43] Women's NCAA Basketball is also popular, although less so than men's basketball.[44]
The women's national team has won eight Olympic gold medals and ten FIBA World Cups.
Women's Basketball in the Media
The WNBA and Women's basketball in general has a low popularity rate compared to the NBA and Men's basketball mainly due to the media coverage and the amount of money put into the WNBA.[45] In the WNBA the league only has so much money it can spend due to sponsorship and the money it makes off of merchandise and games. [46] As a result of this the athletes are paid significantly less than the men in the NBA because the WNBA has less media coverage and less promotion to gain money for the league. With the NBA they have news coverage and many sports channels that discuss how the season is going for the men.[47] WNBA games and content is more difficult to access due to limited media coverage. "Women account for a large percentage of the sporting world, but it is disheartening and discouraging to thousands of female athletes that they account for only a mere fraction of its media coverage."[48]:17
Many female athletes are only accepted by society and receive coverage in the media if they participate in traditionally feminine sports. If a woman participates in a masculine sport, their sexuality is questioned.[49] The media tends to ignore, which devalues, women’s athletic accomplishments by focusing on their physical appearance, private lives, and femininity and sexuality even if they achieve more impressive athletic feats.[50] "The idea of women having a biologically inferior body has been extensively used to justify the exclusion of females in certain sports and influence the idea that women who chose masculine sports are promoting lesbianism and other unfeminine traits. The female body continues to be identified as an object within sport and women often experience significant conflict with the negotiation of being an athlete and being a woman."[51]:219
References
- ^ "Major League Baseball still leads the NBA when it comes to popularity - Business Insider". Uk.businessinsider.com. 2015-02-24. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "Sports - Pro Football is Still America's Favorite Sport". Theharrispoll.com. 2016-01-26. Archived from the original on 2016-01-29. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "Harris Poll - NFL still most popular; MLB 2nd". Espn.com. 2014-01-26. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "The Harris Poll". Harrisinteractive.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Catalina Logan. "The Effects of the Game of Basketball on America". Livestrong.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "New Documentary Explores History Of Jews and Basketball". Npr.org. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "American Hoops: The History of United States Olympic Basketball from Berlin to Barcelona". ProQuest. 1 January 2006 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Mclaughlin, Kelly. "March Madness history and why America goes so crazy for NCAA basketball | Daily Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Thomas, Vince (2010-03-10). "Basketball's Forgotten (Black) History". Theroot.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "Hoop Dreams: Multicultural Diversity in NBA Viewership". Nielsen.com. 2015-02-26. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "TV audience for NBA Finals was more diverse than a decade ago". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Howard Nixon II (2015-07-24). Sport in a Changing World. p. 81. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
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ignored (help) - ^ "Where have all the white American NBA players gone?". Chicago Sun-Times. 2014-11-19. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Spears, Marc J. "Where are all the white American NBA players? — The Undefeated". Theundefeated.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Steve Silverman. "Why Is the Game of Basketball So Popular?". Livestrong.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Pulver, Matthew. ""The game isn't the NBA. It's the American racial empire": Let's talk about basketball's white-privilege problem".
- ^ "Bird: NBA needs additional white stars". 10 June 2004.
- ^ Touré. "Will There Ever Be Another Black America's Team?" – via ideas.time.com.
- ^ "Timberwolves: Pale in comparison to the rest of the NBA".
- ^ Sean Gregory (2016-08-13). "Rio 2016 Olympics: Team USA Basketball Has A Problem". Time.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Macguire, Eoghan (2016-08-20). "Olympics: US wins women's basketball gold - CNN.com". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "Women's Basketball USA - Spain Result". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ a b "Hidden demographics of youth sports - ESPN The Magazine". Espn.com. 2013-07-11. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "Why Is Girls Basketball Participation Declining?". Forbes.com. 2015-01-17. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ 2014-15 NFHS participation survey
- ^ "largest Indiana high school gymnasiums". Indianahsbasketball.homestead.com. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
- ^ "Ten years in, the NBA's one-and-done rule is no less controversial". Espn.co.uk. 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Patterson, Chip (2014-01-28). "College basketball sliding in Harris Poll of sport popularity". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "More on college hoops and popularity - Men's College Basketball Blog". ESPN. 2010-01-14. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "9 reasons college basketball is better than the NBA | For The Win". Ftw.usatoday.com. 2015-02-19. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Sean Gregory (2015-03-14). "March Madness: College Basketball Struggles During Regular Season". Time.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Simon Rice (2016-03-17). "March Madness: With even Barack Obama involved, why are college sports so popular in the United States?". The Independent. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ David Hein. "A European's view of US college basketball's March Madness | David Hein | Opinion". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Jones, Gordie (2015-03-13). "The state of college basketball? Dismal". Myajc.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "After Two Decades WNBA Still Struggling For Relevance". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Frank Hoffmann; Robert P Batchelor; Martin J Manning (2016-05-23). Basketball in America: From the Playgrounds to Jordan's Game and Beyond. p. 249. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
{{cite book}}
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ignored (help) - ^ "COLUMN: In 20th season, WNBA still struggling | The Daily Courier | Prescott, AZ". Dcourier.com. 2016-06-07. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "The Taboo Subject in Women's Basketball". Nymag.com. 2015-02-09. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "Is It The Beginning Of The End For The WNBA?". Forbes.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Fagan, Kate (2016-03-31). "Fagan on why lower rims in women's basketball is flawed". Espn.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Levin, Josh (2009-10-20). "How to fix the WNBA". Slate.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "Adam Silver can save the WNBA | For The Win". Ftw.usatoday.com. 2016-01-29. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Jeff Pearlman (2010-06-16). "Jeff Pearlman: Why the WNBA isn't - and will never be - a popular league". SI.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "Women's College Basketball Taking It To New Heights". EBONY. 2016-03-15. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Wallace, Kelly (2016-03-14). "When will women's sports get the same attention as men?". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "Basktballs Gender Wage gap is even worse than you think". Archived from the original on 2016-04-06. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ^ Lee, Jon (2015-06-04). "Closing the W.N.B.A.'s Analytics Gap". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Hanson, Valerie. "The Inequality of Sport: Women < Men". The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research. 13.
- ^ Neil deMause (2014-08-29). "WNBA: Hoop skills not enough for women's teams | Al Jazeera America". America.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ Scheadler, Travis; Wagstaff, Audrey. "Exposure to Women's Sports: Changing Attitudes Toward Female Athletes". The Sport Journal.
- ^ Trolan, Eoin. "The Impact of the Media on Gender Inequality within Sport". Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 91.